A confident speaking voice is an asset in virtually every facet of life. Voice therapy helps patients who have any of a wide variety of vocal disorders feel and sound like themselves again, without surgery or medication.
At Lawrence Otolaryngology Associates, our team works with you to restore the full strength of your voice using vocal and breathing exercises. If you’re considering corrective voice therapy for yourself or your child, here’s what you need to know about when it’s the right course of action.
Corrective voice therapy uses exercises to strengthen your vocal cords, larynx, and diaphragm in order to fix vocal problems or heal after injury or surgery.
Our team includes a dedicated speech-language pathologist who formulate a treatment plan based on your individual needs. Depending on the nature of your vocal problems, our experts use a variety of methods during your therapy, including:
Vocal issues can also affect children. If you notice your child is struggling with speech due to a raspy or weak voice, corrective voice therapy can boost their language skills and self-confidence. The sooner they adopt healthy speech patterns, the easier to maintain them long-term.
Nearly 18 million people in the United States experience vocal issues at some point in their lives. Often, these conditions are mild and clear up on their own. When they persist, however, it may be an indication of a voice disorder, such as:
Muscle tension dysphonia develops when your vocal cords fail to work as intended, typically due to injury from overuse. Severe cases of dysphonia can cause dramatic changes to your voice.
The following symptoms suggest muscle tension dysphonia:
Spasmodic dysphonia is characterized by spasms in the vocal folds that impact speech. It is a neurological condition that typically requires surgery or injections to correct. After surgery, voice therapy rehabilitates your laryngeal muscles.
If you experience asthma-like symptoms accompanied by a persistent lump in your throat, it could be vocal cord dysfunction (VCD). This condition can come from a variety of factors, including exposure to pollution and irritants, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and even anxiety and stress.
Healthy vocal folds open when you breathe, and close to vibrate and produce the sound of your voice when you talk. With VCD, your vocal folds involuntarily close while they’re supposed to be open, causing difficulty breathing and speaking.
Vocal cord paralysis occurs when one (or in rare cases, both) of your vocal folds is unable to move, due to trauma or injury. Certain neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease, tumors of thyroid gland or involving the mediastinum, or multiple sclerosis can also cause vocal cord paralysis.
Your vocal folds have other jobs beyond producing sound, however. They also protect you from choking by preventing saliva, food, and drinks from getting into your trachea, or windpipe. The following are symptoms of vocal cord paralysis:
Certain neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis can also cause vocal cord paralysis.
If vocal problems are affecting your confidence and quality of life, the board-certified head and neck specialists at Lawrence Otolaryngology Associates are here to help. We offer corrective voice therapy and other solutions to restore a strong, confident voice.
Call or request an appointment online in Lawrence or Ottawa today.
